Sheriff’s detective found guilty of lying to FBI, obstructing DEA case

A Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office detective was convicted July 10 of obstructing Drug Enforcement Administration investigations and making a false statement to the FBI, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould announced.

A New Mexico jury found Paul Jessen Jr., 36, guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice, two counts of obstruction of justice and making a false statement following a five-day trial and roughly three hours of deliberation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The trial took place in Albuquerque, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Northern District of Texas prosecuting the case after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico recused itself.

Raybould said Jessen “violated his oath, betrayed his position of public trust and jeopardized the safety of fellow law enforcement officers” by compromising DEA operations with confidential information provided to a known drug trafficker, then lying to the FBI. DOJ Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Cloey Pierce said Jessen failed to uphold the honor and integrity expected of law enforcement officers, while FBI Albuquerque Field Office Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris said tipping off the subject of an active investigation compromised investigative efforts, put fellow officers at unnecessary risk and betrayed the public’s trust.

According to evidence presented at trial, Jessen and former BCSO Detective Kyle Linker recruited a drug trafficker as a confidential informant in July 2021. When a DEA agent later told Linker about a planned operation near the informant’s home, Linker warned the informant, prompting him to change the location of one drug deal and cancel another, prosecutors said. Text messages presented at trial showed Jessen and Linker harbored personal animus toward the DEA and discussed warning the informant about pending operations, including one exchange in which Jessen wrote, “It would be a shame if there is nothing there.”

In December 2021, DEA agents searched the informant’s home and found more than 470 grams of methamphetamine, fentanyl pills and a firearm, prosecutors said. The informant admitted he had previously been tipped off by Linker, and investigators devised a plan to confirm his account. Evidence presented at trial showed Linker used Jessen’s phone to contact the informant in an effort to create plausible deniability while continuing to warn him about DEA activity. Jessen later searched the informant for a wire during an in-person meeting, prosecutors said.

When interviewed by an FBI agent in January 2022, Jessen denied having personal knowledge of anything inappropriate between Linker and the informant — a statement the jury found to be false, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Jessen faces up to 65 years in federal prison. His sentencing date has not been set. Linker previously pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to eight months in custody, including 30 days’ imprisonment, followed by seven months of location monitoring.

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